For many years agricultural balers have been used to consolidate and package crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling of the crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts and conditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cut crop material is properly dried, a baler, for example a round baler, travels along the windrows to pick up the crop material and form the crop material into cylindrically-shaped round bales.
More specifically, the pickup of the baler gathers the cut and windrowed crop material from the ground then convey the cut crop material into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. A drive mechanism operates to activate the pickup, auger, and a rotor of the feed mechanism. A conventional baling chamber may consist of a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts that rotate and compress the crop material into a cylindrical shape.
When the bale has achieved a desired size and density, a wrapping system may wrap the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape and density. For example, a net may be used to wrap the bale of crop material. A cutting or severing mechanism may be used to cut the net once the bale has been wrapped. The wrapped bale may be ejected from the baler and onto the ground by, for example, raising a tailgate of the baler. The tailgate is then closed and the cycle repeated as necessary and desired to manage the field of cut crop material.
The tailgate of the baler typically houses a simple door or panel that is affixed to the tailgate by hinges. In one position, the door or panel remains closed to prevent escape of the harvested bale. In another position, the door or panel can be placed in an open position to facilitate the exit of the harvested bale. Conventional balers require a relatively long period of time (e.g., a downtime), typically in the range of between 10 and 15 seconds, to open the door or panel during operation and evacuation of the bale. The downtime required to operate the door reduces the overall efficiency of the harvesting system and interrupts continuous harvesting. The simple door or panel mechanism typically operates very slowly in a manual or automatic fashion. Once fully open, the weight of the door or panel is typically very heavy, which affects the center of gravity of the equipment, puts additive stress on the tension points, and may cause instability problems if the agricultural harvester is on a hill or slope.
The present invention addresses the above-identified shortcomings of the conventional balers and also includes a design that lowers the weight stress on a single axis or pivot point, thereby increasing the stability of the machine on a slope or hill or angled surface while the machine is in operation. The present invention facilitates maintenance of the agricultural harvester in more confined spaces by allowing access to the bale chamber and back of the agricultural harvester without having to accommodate a large swinging tailgate that is associated with most conventional systems. The present invention also allows for a wider outlet through which the bale may exit the bale chamber by, in some embodiments, pivoting a belt guide assembly that supports the bale in the bale chamber in a closed position to a very high position that does not obstruct bale ejection when in its fully opened position. This high positioning of belt guide assembly allows easy clearance of the bale through the outlet in both conventional and more modern agricultural harvesters. The present invention allows for a higher degree of safety in having the guide assembly roll upward in conjunction with the rear door inward instead of a tailgate being raised or lowered at a difficult center of gravity. There is a need to design a quick bale ejection system with a guide assembly and a take arm by which a baler is opened in a more safe, timely, and efficient manner while also facilitating clearance of the fully formed bales of harvested material in a lateral vector.